The Marble Palace

At the end of Millionnaya Ulitsa (Millionaire's Street) on the left there is the Marble Palace, built for Catherine the Great's favourite Grigory Orlov, who died before its completion, and so the building was used by her other boyfriend, Stanislaw Ponjatowski.

The palace derives its name from its exterior's granite and marble layers. During the soviet era it was home to the Lenin Central Museum; currently it is a branch of the Russian Museum and home to its Modern Art department, which concentrates on modern Russian and some Western art and often features temporary exhibitions.